Warning: Spoilers ahead for Doctor Who season 15, episode 4, "Lucky Day."Doctor Who season 15's cast, but his continued presence is by far the only connection between both runs.

The ending of Doctor Who season 14 came in June 2024. After "Joy to the World" aired in December that year, Fifteen was ed by Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) in the season 15 premiere, which landed in April 2025. Despite Belinda replacing Millie Gibson's Ruby Sunday as the Doctor's companion, showrunner Russell T. Davies has seemingly replicated the same blueprint for his second season back in charge of Doctor Who. It's an easy thing to miss, but impossible to ignore once it has been pointed out.

Doctor Who Season 15's Structure Is Almost The Same As Season 14's

Russell T. Davies has taken the Fifteenth Doctor on a very familiar ride

The respective premieres of Doctor Who seasons 14 and 15 both show the Fifteenth Doctor leaving Earth for the first time with a new companion. This could be chalked up to coincidence, given that it's in Doctor Who. However, each of Gatwa's two seasons also boasts a similar sophomore installment. In season 14's "The Devil's Chord" and season 15's "Lux," the Doctor encounters a new member of Doctor Who's Pantheon. Again, this doesn't necessarily create a pattern, but the third episode in each season cements the imitative trend.

Doctor Who season 15, episode 3, Doctor Who's Doctor-lite episodes, with Fifteen barely featuring in either installment as Ruby leads both subtly-intertwined stories.

The Biggest Difference Between Doctor Who Seasons 14 & 15

Doctor Who's Disney+ seasons haven't been quite equal in quality

Without asking him directly, it's tough to know for sure if Russell T. Davies intentionally copied Doctor Who season 14's structure for season 15, but I think it's a good possibility that he did. At the very least, he has done so across the first four episodes. Either way, there is one thing that separates the two runs that I think sets them apart. In short, Doctor Who season 15 has been better than its predecessor so far. For instance, "The Robot Revolution" was a solid season opener, whereas "Space Babies" was comfortably the worst episode of season 14.

Of the other three comparisons, I'd say "The Well" is the only episode that is noticeably better than its season 14 counterpart, "Boom." After that, it becomes tricky to pick a winner in the fight between "The Devil's Chord" and "Lux," and also the contest for supremacy between "73 Yards" and "Lucky Day." That being said, on balance, Doctor Who season 15 has largely been far more consistent and boasts the flair that season 14 lacked at times.